1-2-1 Commandments for your SAP Career

[former_member182098]

“Today’s mother-in-law was once a daughter-in-law, but in no mood to understand the pain of her daughter-in-law’. The same rule and logic also ruling in SAP profession. 90 percent of the established consultants tend to forget the fact that they were also freshers and junior consultants when they started their career. You will hardly find people who are always willing to help the freshers or juniors in the market. Most of the consultants will find no time to help or guide the juniors. They would feel the kind of questions juniors are asking is ridiculous, but, they tend to forget the fact that similar questions were asked by them at the start of their career. The best help a human being can do is to help others without expecting anything back in return. This gives unlimited self satisfaction and such help would be remembered by the other person till the end of their life. Therefore, we should never forget our roots similar to trees, which gives us the best lesson. Bigger the trees grow more they bend. In the similar way, it is our responsibility, being a human whatever position we achieve in life, we should not forget our roots and always try to help others, no exception to SAP Profession.

More or less, daily I do receive number of messages from all over the world on my LinkedIn for some sort of advice or help in their professional life. I never hesitate to give them the best possible advice. Some people would send me thankful email after few years saying how my advice has helped their career. It just gives a great pleasure to know that my simple advice has helped someone in their life. I do not see any great overwhelming feeling than this. I strongly believe helping others should always be a matter of passion as opposed to compulsion. The more you help others, it would return in some way or the other to help you. I would definitely not be in my current position, unless many of the great people had not helped me in many ways in my life. It need not necessarily a SAP advice, even every person in our day to day life help us to move forward, for example, a taxi driver helped us to reach safely to office or an interview. If we continue saying like this, the list of examples can go on, which helped us in our life to become complete individuals. One of the beautiful quote shared by my friend and I cannot stop sharing that quote with you “Peace of Mind is a Beautiful Gift which Only We can give to OURSELVES.. Just by Expecting NOTHING from anyone, Even after Doing EVERYTHING for them.”

To end the year 2017 on a beautiful note, I would like to give 1-2-1 (you are right, indeed 121) advises for your wonderful SAP Career. I am not the guru of everything. With my very limited knowledge, I would only like to share my experiences in SAP world in the form of advises. I strongly believe that what I know is 1/1000^th of an atom, what I need to learn is the whole universe. If any of my advises help anybody in the pursuit of their professional or personal life, the very purpose of writing this blog is more than achieved. I would be more than appreciate if you share your professional experiences as comments to add greater value to this blog.

 

CAREER

1. Take SAP as a passion, rather than a profession.


2. Always open your eyes on the latest technologies of SAP in your area.


3. When you do not know something, you must be the first one to admit rather than bluffing.


4. If you find a better company, but, a bad manager, you tend to leave the job so quite early.


5. Concentrate on your skills rather than impressing your managers.


6. Always have short term and long term goals what you intend to achieve in your career.


7. Changing technologies is not just changing a shirt, stick to what you believe.


8. Learning daily is the only way to build palace of your SAP Career.


9. Do not run behind money, if you have knowledge, money follows you.


10. Keep your feet firmly grounded even if you reach pinnacles in your career.


11. Remember, 1000 miles journey start with a single step, your SAP career is no exception.

SALARY

12. If you are young choose a company that gives skill and if you are old enough to retire, then choose a company that pays you well.


13. Never throw your hat first into the ring, you never know the prospective employer might be willing to pay more than the amount in your mind.


14. Salary negotiation is a skill, if you cannot master it, will have to sell your knowledge for lesser price.


15. Salary is important, but, when you are confused between two offers, go for the job which gives you more skill than the salary.


16. Do not just change the company for the sake of salary, you may end up changing many companies in your career.


17. You are a commodity to the company, it may not hesitate to throw you out if you are not worthy, make yourself always demanding.


18. Contentment is very important in life, never compare your salaries with the others, else, you will be an unsatisfied person forever.


19. As long as you believe in your SAP skills, you have fair chance of getting good paying prospective employers.


20. Remember, you are never respected by your salary, but by your knowledge.


21. Remember the “law of demand and supply” before you start negotiating the salary or rates.


22. Choose an employer who pays you less but gives you enough freedom rather who pays you more and makes your life miserable.

LEARNING & SKILLS IMPROVEMENT

23. Learning is like a flowing river, the minute it stops, that is the end of the progress.


24. Learning is not a month’s task, rather a life long process, never fear learning new things.


25. With money you can buy books, but not knowledge, because it only comes by your application of mind.


26. Many Architects, Designers, Consultants and Experts never be able to post a document, never be part of such bandwagon, and make your hands dirty on the system to be the best.


27. Take a resolution at the beginning of every year and stick to that learning schedule, always compare your actual progress vs set planned learning targets.


28. No matter how intelligent you are, without continuous learning you become a rusted bolt soon.


29. Do not forget to follow the latest courses on https://training.sap.com, if possible subscribe SAP Learning Hub.


30. Regularly reading SAP Help https://help.sap.com/ and contributing on the SCN https://www.sap.com/community.html make you richer by knowledge.


31. SAP Market Place https://service.sap.com is not just a place to raise the tickets to SAP, but a great source of knowledge.


32. Never think you know everything, this ego would kill your learning spirit and brings you down.


33. Remember, always Read, Read, Read and Practice, Practice, Practice.

CERTIFICATION

34. Never under estimate the power of SAP Certification.


35. Some people think doing Certification is an insulting thing do in life, this shows their immaturity and ego to learn new things.


36. People believe they know everything and reluctant to give SAP Certification mainly because their inability to understand the conceptual knowledge may get exposed, never be part of such jokers list.


37. Certification is not a job minting machine, but a process driven test to quantify your understanding about the fundamental knowledge on the subject.


38. Those who cannot dance would blame the musician in the similar way those who cannot pass SAP Certification would blame the SAP Certification itself, why would you want to join with such broken legs?


39. Passing Certification is not a pinnacle of the world, but just a starting point for new beginning to pass another Certification.


40. Having hands-on experience is a bonus, having certification is also another bonus, however, having Hands-on experience plus Certification is bonus plus bonus.


41. The first certification you always put your heart at it, the more number of Certifications you attend, it just becomes a child game.


42. If you have any questions regarding certification, the first contact point is your local SAP Education in your country, as the rules may differ from country to country.


43. Never forget now the SAP offers Cloud Certification, which gives you a chance to pass the Certification in 6 attempts.


44. Do not think that someone will come and sponsor you for your Certification, it is your responsibility and interest to fulfil your appetite for learning.

OPPORTUNITIES

45. Always open your eyes for the opportunities around.


46. Opportunities are not always advertised on the job portal.


47. Do not think that you always get dream opportunities, at times, you may need to face the toughest employers.


48. Remember, bad market conditions will not spare highly skilled consultants.


49. People only look how successful you are, but they never understand how hard you worked to grab those opportunities.


50. Success lies in selecting the best opportunities, rather than taking what comes on your way.


51. When you find it difficult to find an opportunity, never forget to develop your skills during that period.


52. If you have the right frame of mind set, opportunities always knock your door, do not just dream, but also make it happen.


53. Remember opportunities are through multiple ways like job portals, job groups, recruiters, friends, old colleagues and networkers on LinkedIn.


54. At times you must also ready to say NO for the opportunities not worthy to pursue, note there are brokers who ready to exploit your knowledge, be aware of them.


55. Opportunities knock regularly those who constantly take the calculated risks.

CV

56. Never fake your CV, be honest and reflect the same on your CV.


57. If you cannot write your CV, you are not fit enough for the Job.


58. If you can write a better CV, you are already 50% successful in getting the job.


59. Do not prepare multiple CVs with totally different jobs and descriptions.


60. Always showcase your strengths and articulate your achievements on the CV.


61. Remember the recruiters will have one minute time to scan your CV.


62. Copying the projects or work from the others CV is unethical and useless.


63. Do not add the company names that you have not worked or exaggerate the work that you have not done.


64. Give the examples of how you could add value to the business, rather than what you are expecting from the prospective employers.


65. If you are strong in SAP, showcase your strengths such as Configuration, Business Processes, Business Analysis, Change Management, Programming and System Administration etc.


66. Never turn a blind eye to your soft skills and other special qualities, such as being a team player, proactive, communication and eager to learn etc. kind of attributes while preparing your CV.

INTERVIEWS

67. Always be punctual, show “Can Do” attitude, thoroughly prepared and well mannered.


68. Failing in the interview is not the end of the world, it is a just a new learning.


69. Success starts thinking positive after a failed interview rather than feeling proud after a successful interview.


70. Know the expectation of the role, always refresh on your weak areas, show self confidence, give business examples and concentrate on the communication.


71. Highly intelligent people do fail in number of interviews because of their bad attitude.


72. If you do not introspect honestly the reasons for a failed interview, you will have very less chance of successful in future interviews.


73. Never take success in an interview to your head and the failure to your heart, treat them the same.


74. Never blame the employers, even if you are rejected for no reason, as you do not know their actual reason of rejecting you.


75. Remember even many of the great people in the world were once rejected in their interviews.


76. One rejected interview means opening of the doors for thousand opportunities.


77. Whatever be the result of the interview, always have utmost faith in your abilities.

ON THE BENCH

78. On the Bench is not a period of honeymoon, but an opportunity to improve your skills.


79. ‘Simply sitting and freely getting’ may be good in the short term, but will make you rusted for life.


80. Remember all employers will have a keen eye on the people enjoying life on the bench.


81. The scariest time for the Contractors is to be on the bench for long time, make best use of it by learning niche skills.


82. Try to make a team of like minded people on the bench and at least complete a dummy project if you have access to sandbox.


83. Not a bad idea to configure the SAP Best Practices on the sand box if you have access.


84. At least try to learn on new skill every time when you are on the bench.


85. If you are on the bench, you could still refresh your skills by training the junior or new entrants.


86. On the bench, you could still help the management with the business proposals and the bids.


87. If you are continuously on the bench for most of the part of your career, do not blame the management, rather let yourself introspect.


88. Whenever you are on the bench, always be proactive to find the next role, rather than wasting the useful time in the canteens.

BRAND VALUE & NETWORKING

89. You are the creator of your own brand value.


90. Any brand in this world is not created in a single day and you are not an exception.


91. Keep updated LinkedIn Profile, be enthusiastic, proactive and helpful to build your reputation.


92. Try to network with all the like minded colleagues, recruiters and your client personnel.


93. If possible, never ignore to get a recommendation for your well deserved abilities.


94. If somebody recommend you on LinkedIn, it is a courteous to reciprocate.


95. Building the brand value is a part of life, but it is not the only thing in life, hence, do not spend all your time only on the social media.


96. The more you contribute to the development of the community, you will be automatically recognised.


97. Do not run behind brand value, do your bit to the people, your brand value will build on its own.


98. The best things to develop your brand value is to help the people honestly without looking anything in return.


99. Brand value cannot be build if you work for yourself, it will only be built if you help the world.

WORK LIFE BALANCE

100. Life is not just work, must have enough balance between work life and personal life.


101. Unless you are very lucky SAP Consulting jobs are mostly away from home.


102. If you get a chance to remotely work from home, it saves your time and personal life.


103. Do exercises, cycling, meditation and yoga to bust your work life stress.


104. Do not take up the job, if your current role makes you stressful.


105. Leave your work stress once you left out of Office, do not carry it to your home.


106. Find the ways to work smart, but not to work hard.


107. You do not need to sit for long hours in the office just because your boss is working.


108. Time is precious, away from the toxic people to make your life worthy.


109. Money can buy many things in life, but not the inner peace, because it comes from within.

HELPING & SHARE KNOWLEDGE

110. Helping others, particularly in SAP world is very common.


111. The more your share your knowledge with others, it multiples your abilities.


112. Sharing knowledge is a treasure, it always multiplies your skills and knowledge.


113. Make helping as your habit, whether it is at your professional or personal front.


114. Before you ask anybody to help you, just check if you have done enough home work.


115. You will be remembered for life only when you help others selflessly.


116. SAP is an ocean, remember at times even an expert consultant may not be knowing simple things.


117. Sharing knowledge should be a passion, but not a compulsion.


118. Teamwork, helping and sharing knowledge is the only way to grow together.


119. Sharing your knowledge is a gift of God, blissful and eternal.


120. Learning and sharing knowledge will always go hand in hand.


121. The best thing in life is not to compare yourself, but do your bit to help others.

Hope you all had a very good year 2017. Wishing you all a successful SAP career, professional growth, success, joy and health in New Year 2018. Happy Reading!!!